NZ PM's popularity surges after success in containing coronavirus
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's success containing the coronavirus has driven an extraordinary popularity surge that has put the youthful leader on course for a landslide win in September's national election.
Ms Ardern's centre-left Labour Party was up 14 points at 56.5 per cent, a Newshub-Reid Research poll published on Monday found, with her rating as preferred prime minister surging 20.8 points to 59.5 per cent.
The survey also indicated an overwhelming 91.6 per cent backing for Ms Ardern's Covid-19 response, which involved a strict seven-week lockdown that appears to have the virus under control.
Support for the conservative National opposition slumped 12.7 points to 30.6 per cent in the poll, with leader Simon Bridges on 4.5 per cent as preferred Prime Minister - down 6.1 points.
The figures mirror leaked research from Labour's own pollster UMR last month, which had Ms Ardern's party on 55 per cent support and National at 29 per cent.
Ms Ardern, who won office on a wave of "Jacinda-mania" in 2017, said she was making no assumptions about the Sept 19 election.
"I'm taking nothing for granted," the 39-year-old told Newshub.
The support for Labour will be even more heartening for Ms Ardern, as it may give the party the chance to govern in its own right for the first time since a German-style proportional voting system was introduced in 1996.
Ms Ardern took Labour from the doldrums in the 2017 election, lifting its vote by almost 13 points to 36.9 per cent. But she still needed support from minor parties to take office.
Ms Ardern gained international acclaim for her empathetic response to last year's Christchurch mosques massacre, when a lone gunman murdered 51 Muslim worshippers.
But it was not reflected in polling and before the pandemic, indications were that Labour's support had plateaued, with Ms Ardern set to struggle in the September election because voters were turning away from her coalition partners.
Whether the latest jump in support can be maintained will depend on the long-term success of Ms Ardern's "go fast-go hard" coronavirus strategy.
It appears to be working so far, with New Zealand recording only 21 Covid-19 deaths in a population of five million. - AFP
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